Anarchist Age Weekly Review 15-20th Sept. '98 Number 317 15th - 20th September, 1998 IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT - TELLING THE TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT - GEORGE ORWELL AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME Two hundred years ago when the anti-slavery movement took a hold of the popular imagination, anti-slave activists were treated with derision and scorn. One hundred years ago when the idea of universal suffrage became all the rage, activists who advocated that everyone should have the vote were told in no uncertain terms that universal suffrage would lead to the end of civilisation. This week the Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist Media Institute launched a campaign for direct democracy. Our campaign has been met with indifference, derision and in some quarters outright hostility. Direct democracy is an idea whose time has come. As people in the past couldn't envisage a world without slaves and a world where everybody was given the vote, today's society can't envisage a world based on direct democratic principles. Although technological options have increased by leaps and bounds in the 20th Century, the political concepts that dominate 20th Century life are 19th Century concepts. As we approach the 21st Century, direct democracy is not only an option but is rapidly becoming a necessity. Society can no longer experience the luxury of leaving things to experts. The problems that face us as individuals and groups need everybody's involvement if we are to have any chance of tackling them. Direct democracy is a mechanism by which individual effort, intelligence and enthusiasm can be harnessed to tackle problems that face us. The 21st Century brings new challenges rapidly increasing population growth and rapidly diminishing resources leave us few choices. We either harness our collective wisdom to tackle these problems or we face oblivion. Direct democracy is one way we can tackle and solve the problems that 21st Century living brings. PETER REITH - TWO TIME LOSER Remember Peter Reith, the man who aspired to be Prime Minister before his Prime Ministerial ambitions were crushed by a loose container, well it looks like he's come back for another round of punishment. in an extraordinary move, more directed at the Liberal/National Party's re-election strategy than anything else, Reith has embarked on a course of workplace confrontation. On Wednesday many workers, including power workers, withdrew their labour because they were sick and tired of the Federal governments spoiling tactics. In an extraordinary move, the Minister for Workplace warfare has refused to endorse a number of enterprise agreements that have been endorsed by employees, employers and the Industrial Relations Commission. In a pugnacious display that makes his maritime dispute antics look tame by comparison, he has called on the I.R.C. to review the agreements, throw them out and start again, because his government has an ideological objection to the type of enterprise agreements struck by employers and employees. Pugnacious Peter or should I say punch drunk Peter has decided to goad workers into taking workplace action. His disgraceful behaviour is solely directed at creating workplace disputes for the benefit of the Liberal Party's re-election efforts. In an attempt to deflect people's attention from their voodoo economics and their morally bankrupt policies they have succeeded in creating a climate of fear which they milk for the sake of their own short-term political agendas. Reviewing the Federal Ministers current foray into the enterprise bargaining arena is an excellent example of the divisions that are created between Australians, when the Minister for Workplace Warfare, Peter Reith, embarks on one of his deregulation hobby horses. The time has come for punch drunk Pete to give up politics and concentrate on animal husbandry. HUNG OUT TO DRY Remember how everybody was angry (well some of us were) when Patrick's secretly moved its workers into a two dollar shelf company, fired its workforce on mass and continued trading, using scab labour. Well the same story is being repeated ad nauseum across Australia, it seems workers have become disposable cogs in a corporate machine. Thousands of workers, possibly more than ten thousand, have been hung out to dry by companies that have become insolvent. Employees in such situations are forced to join the back of a long queue of creditors and never seem to receive a cent. Most of the money that's left over seems to stick to the hands of the banks. In an all too familiar story, corporations are setting up two dollar shelf companies to hire their workforce and when things get a little too difficult they close down the company and legally stand down their staff without paying them their entitlements. Thousands in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars of holiday pay, long service leave, site allowances and bonuses that are owed to the workers that are fired are never paid. To rub salt into the wound, the same company resurfaces under a different company name and recommences production with a new batch of wortkers. As far as the law is concerned it's all legal. The Patrick option has now become a standard ploy that is being used by an increasing number of companies to deny workers their legal entitlements. It's interesting, very interesting to note that John Howard, Peter Reith and the rest of the intellectually challenged members of the Coalition government, have no intention of changing the law to protect workers from the predatory practices of the corporate sector. Anybody who expected that they would move to squash the use of the Patrick option has no understanding of the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the Liberal/National party. REALLY JEFFREY!! Sometimes, just sometimes I wonder about Jeffrey (Glib) Kennett's sanity. You see the ferret (Robyn Spencer's term for our beloved Premier, not mine) has been hob-nobbing with the Indonesian President J.B. Habibie and has been struck down by a brain storm. You see, poor old Jeffrey, like you and me is concerned, very concerned about the fate of eighty million Indonesians who face a potential famine. Now you know and I know that Indonesian's problems are political, not agricultural. Indonesia has the means to produce enough rice and agricultural products to feed its people. The problem they face is one of distribution, not production. Corruption, both at a government and local level is the single most important reason for the current famine. Indonesian's don't need an enriched rice biscuit, courtesy of Jeffrey (Glib) Kennett and his team of agricultural scientists. They need radical social change now. While Indonesians starve, the country still exports rice. While Indonesians starve, Suharto the Butcher and the offspring of his loins and their cronies, continue to sit in their country houses, counting all their money. Nothing will change in Indonesia, irrespective of Jeffrey (Glib) Kennett's brainstorms (some of us say in spite of his brainstorms) until the people seize the means of production, distribution and exchange and use it for their benefit, not the benefit of a bloated Indonesian ruling class. DIFFERENT COUNTRY, SAME STORY As floods cover over three quarters of Bangladesh, it's possible over twenty million people will die of flood borne diseases and starvation. The disastorous floods in Bangladesh come on the heels of floods in China, India and other parts of Asia. Almost every year, more and more agricultural land in Asia is devestated by floods. In each case the story seems to be the same. A landscape that has been denuded of trees is not able to soak up water. It flows into the region's rivers, overflows their banks and causes both short term and long term problems. In the short term the floods take many lives and make people vulnerable to water borne diseases. Cholera, typhoid, maleria and dengue fever are a few of the diseases that are spawned on the flood plains. Those people who survive these short term problems face a more catastrophic future. Each flood removes top soil from thousands of square kilometres. Top soil that has taken two hundred years to accumulate is swept away in a few minutes. The subsistence farmers that live on these new formed flood plains can't grow their crops and famine follows the floods. What we are seeing are not natural disasters, they are man made disasters that could have been prevented if wide scale deforestation had not occurred. Even in those regions where deforestation has occurred it is still possible to rehabilitate the land if trees are replanted in these areas. Bangladesh's woes are not of its own making. This tiny over-populated region of the earth is a victim of religious environmental and political stupidity. The floods in Bangladesh are a direct consequence of the deforestation that has occurred in both India and Nepal. These yearly floods will not be halted unless steps are taken to replant the forests that soak up the rain and bind the soil. Without active reforestation programmes the Bangladesh authorities can do very little to overcome this yearly catastrophe. ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER Q. Is there a role for experts in an anarchist society? A. Definitely yes!! Whether an anarchist community is a simple subsistence rural community or whether it's a complex high density urban structure, there will always be a role for experts. Whether we like it or not, not each of us is born with the same abilities. Some of us have the temperament, physical and intellectual capacity to master certain skills, while some of us don't have the desire, temperament, intellectual or physical capacity to master the same skills. The problems facing an anarchist community as far as experts are concerned are two fold. Why would anybody undergo a rigorous training program to master difficult skills if there are no distinct financial rewards at the end of the training program? Do the skills experts acquire give them power over the community? As far as training is concerned in an anarchist society, people would continue to undergo rigorous training programs to acquire skills that a community needs. They would do so because the intangible rewards that these skills bring an individual are more important than financial compensation. Self-satisfaction at acquiring particular skills and a persons standing within the community they live and work in are two important intangible rewards that ensure that people would continue to do the hard work to acquire particular skills. Although it's undeniable that a person with a particular skill has the potential power to black mail a community by withdrawing their skills and the skills they have, may allow them to influence a community, whether that potential becomes a reality is a matter for debate. The essence of an anarchist society is the ability of an individual to become involved in all the decisions that effect them. Experts in an anarchist society, will be called on to advise a particular group or community on the best way to tackle a problem, but they don't make the final decision on what direction the community takes. That decision is left to the people, not the experts. The problem of experts withdrawing their skills at a time of community need, can be overcome by ensuring that as many people as practical are trained in particular skills. The more people with an essential skill, the less chances that a small group can determine the fate of a particular community. Experts are an essential component of any anarchist society. Whether they gain a stranglehold on a community, ultimately depends on the day to day involvement of people in that society. ACTION BOX - BLACK RIBBON CAMPAIGN - THE NEXT STEP This action box is specifically directed at Australian readers. It is part of an ongoing campaign by the Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist Media Institute to present Direct Democracy as an Alternative to Parliamentary rule. Last week we launched our black ribbon campaign, encouraging people who won't be voting, who are voting informal or who are voting but are disillusioned with the parliamentary process to wear a black ribbon during the duration of the Federal election campaign. The black ribbon will become a visible symbol of peoples' dissatisfaction with the parliamentary process. If enough people wear one it will indicate to Australian's that there are people in this country who are disillusioned with the parliamentary farce. Each week we will be cranking up the campaign. This week we are encouraging people who are disillusioned with the parliamentary process who are going to vote or vote informal to a TAPE A BLACK RIBBON TO THEIR BALLOT PAPER to show their disgust with parliamentary rule. Informal voters and voters who vote for so called marginal groups are normally dismissed as "crazies" and "donkeys" by dominant culture. BLACK RIBBONS appearing on ballot papers across Australia will dramatically bring to peoples' attention the fact that many people who vote informal, or vote for minor parties, as well as vote for some of the major parties, vote because they are forced to by the state, not because they have any faith in the parliamentary process. So if you are disillusioned with the electoral farce, you have two choices. You ignore the whole process or you use the Federal election campaign to show that your dissatisfaction with parliamentary rule is not a private vice, it is a PUBLIC VIRTUE. So it's over to you. If you are dissatisfied with parliamentary rule, wear a black ribbon during the Federal election campaign, encourage other people to wear a black ribbon and if you do decide to grace the electoral booth with your presence, TAPE A BLACK RIBBON to your Senate and your House of Representatives ballot paper. If you decide to become part of this campaign ring up TALK BACK RADIO, tell them what you are doing and why you are doing it. Encourage other people to wear a Black Ribbon and tape it to their ballot papers. We're doing what we can to challenge the myths surrounding parliamentary politics, join the BLACK RIBBON MOVEMENT and become part of a movement that challenges the legitimacy of parliamentary rule. AUSTRALIAN ANARCHIST HISTORY - THE RED RIBBON MOVEMENT Those readers who believe it's quaint and pointless to wear a black ribbon to signify their disgust with the parliamentary process, should cast their thoughts back to the Eureka stockade. At 3.30am on Sunday the 3rd of December 1854, the British government stormed the Eureka stockade and killed 30 miners and wounded many more. One hundred and forty three years after the rebellion, Eureka reverberates in the Australian consciousness as a moment that shaped Australia's future. In Victoria in August, 1851, a proposed three pound gold digging licence fee was reduced to one pound ten shillings after protests. Between July and December 1853, Bendigo minders demanded that the licence fee be reduced to ten shillings a month. In order to show the government the extent of the movement against the license fees, all miners on the Victorian Gold Fields who refused to pay the one pound ten shilling fee began wearing RED RIBBONS to signify to the authorities that they would not pay more than ten shillings a month. THE RED RIBBON MOVEMENT swept the gold fields. It helped miners to make contact with like minded people and assisted them in their efforts to organise themselves. It highlighted the extent of the movement against the fees to the government. In its own small way the RED RIBBON movement became a catalyst that led to the Eureka stockade. Although the diggers lost the Eureka battle, many of their original demands were instituted within twelve months, by a government that was frightened of losing control. BOOK REVIEW - THE FLOWER OF THE WORD WILL NOT DIE Writings from the Zapatistas, Scam Publications 1997. Scam Publications has done the Anarchist Movement a service by publishing this excellent 28 page pamphlet. On the 1st of January 1994, on the very same day the North American Free Trade Agreement came into force, hundreds, possibly thousands, of well disciplined masked armed men and women swept down from the Mountains of Mexico into Chapias, Mexico's poorest province. Within a few days the mass revolt that followed their challenge to the Mexican state reverberated around the world. It soon became obvious to everyone that the Zapatistas struggle was not your normal national liberation struggle. The Zapatistas are the first and only revolutionary force at the end of the 20th century who are not hobbled with the dead weight of Marx and Lenin's legacy. The Flower of the Word will Not Die is made up of four seminal Zapatistas statements that were released in the period 1994 - 1996. The pages of this pamphlet are exceptionally well illustrated by a number of eerily elongated images of local people and combatants that gives a dream like quality to the pamphlet. Although the Mexican Army was able to withstand the 1994 Zapatista assault, the Zapatista's are now a permanent feature of life in North America. The Zapatistas are of the people and more importantly they understood from day one, they are of the people. They have been able to survive not through force of arms but by creating the Zapatista Front of National Liberation - "a civic and peaceful organisation independent and democratic". At the Fourth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, they succeeded in creating something much more important than an armed group of combatants - "We invite national civil society, those without a party, the citizen and social movement, all Mexicans to construct this new political force". By successfully forging real practical links with their community, they have been able to prepare the soil so that the Flower of the Word Will Not Die. Published by SCAM Publications, PO Box 756 Brunswick Lower 3056, Victoria Australia. Review copy provided by Barricade Books - InfoShop, 115 Sydney Road, Brunswick 3056 Melbourne Australia. Tel (03) 9387 6646. Email INFOSHOP@BEDLAM.APANA.ORG.AU PERSONAL OBSERVATION A sea of dark sombre suits was punctuated with splashes of colour. They sat in rows, the overflow hugging the back wall. All eyes were riveted on the speakers and two whiteboards, a sense of expectation rippled across the crowd. A young woman not more than thirty was brought to the centre of the stage. She was seated and blind folded with a heavy black cloth that only superman could possibly peer through. Blind fold secured, she began hand fishing in a contained placed before her. Numbers began to appear next to the names on the whiteboard. The crowd became more animated. They knew that their future could be determined by the next draw. A speaker stood up and droned on about the random nature of the events that were unfolding before us. It's then I realised that our number was 14. The amateurs in the crowd, buzzed, the suits mumbled, the second draw was about to begin. Robin was resplendent in her orange, yellow suit, Phil hugged the black wall, he'd put on a few pounds since our last encounter. An earnest Christian in a dark suit continued to hand out leaflets at the door. Murgatroid the peoples' Shepherd nearly outsparkled Robin, the show was about to begin. Superman's alter ego plunged her hand into the basket and began to pull out numbers. It was only after she'd pulled out about a dozen numbers, that I realised that number 14 had already been called. Dragging my eyes from the suits and the splashes of colour to scan the whiteboards, I soon realised the number 2 had mysteriously appeared next to the Toscano group. Yes folks I'm guilty, chain me, beat me, subject me to psychotherapy, I wasted an hour of my life so I could bathe in the atmosphere of a Senate draw. Will I do it again? Don't know. STOP PRESS - I.M.F. BAILS OUT SOUTH AMERICA? In a last desperate effort to starve off the inevitable consequences of another world depression, the I.M.F. has once again stepped into the breach. In an effort to plug yet another hole in the International Monetary Dyke, the I.M.F. has shoved in a fistful of soggy U.S. dollars to plug the latest breach in the global economy. The last domino, the South American Market, is on its way down, nothing can now save international capital from the consequences of a major world depression. While the likes of Howard and Beazely quibble about the significance of the latest Australian unemployment figures, the world awaits its fate. The 19th century financial experiment that has been foisted on a world that is entering the 21st century has come to a screaming halt. The bodgie figures and ideology that accompanies free market economics, has once again been found to be based on a number of non-sustainable premises. As the globe screeches to a halt, the social dislocation caused by the imposition of this bankrupt ideology (on a world with an expanding population and limited resources) will open a window that will lead to either barbarism or anarchism. What direction we as individuals and groups now take will determine what type of community we will ultimately create. JOSEPH TOSCANO (Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society). ANARCHIST PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED THIS WEEK CNT No.235 June, 1998, Apdo Correos 4040, 18080 Granada, Spain Tel 958-220065, Fax 958-220119. FREEDOM Vol 59 No.17 5th Sept 1998, 84b Whitechapel High St, London E17QX, Great Britian, http://www.tao.ca/~freedom email Freedom Press at freedom@tao.ca SOLIDARIDAD OBRERA No.279 June'98, C/- Joaquin Costa 34, entresueto, 08001-Barcelona, Spain. Tel/Fax 93 318 8834. TIERRA Y LIBERTAD No.127 June'98, Antonio Oliva, Apdo 74, La Puebla del Rio/ Se 4113 Spain. Tel/Fax (95) 5772135 Email tierrayl@arrakis.es VICTORIAN READERS LISTEN TO THE ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK POSTER AVAILABLE FOR THE COST OF A FEW STAMPS Want to help us find new listeners for the Anarchist World This Week, then send us a few stamps to AWTW, Po Box 20, Parkville 3052, Australia and we'll send you out a colour poster (A3) for your use and a black & white poster you can photocopy and put up to help us increase the number of people who listen to the Anarchist World This Week. ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK TO GO NATIONAL AND GLOBAL The Anarchist World This Week is about to go National via being transmitted live to a satellite which is used by most of Australia's Community Radio Stations. This means almost any community radio station in Australia will be able to beam the program LIVE or tape it and use it later on in the week. The Anarchist Media Institute has also secured a site on the internet to transmit the Anarchist World This Week to anyone, anywhere across the globe who has access to the internet. In order for both projects to become A REALITY we need to raise two thousand dollars to 1) clear our debt with 3CR (community radio federation) approximately $1100.00. 2) buy a years space on the satellite $750.00. 3) upgrade the modem on our computer $150.00. We are in the process of organising a benefit concert to help raise the necessary funds. If you live outside of Melbourne or live in Melbourne and can't attend the benefit concert and would like to assist us to bring the radio programme to the nation and the world then dig deep into your empty pockets and make out cheques and money orders to LIBERTARIAN WORKERS and send them to L.W.S.S. PO Box 20, Parkville. 3052. Melbourne Australia. The sooner we raise the $2000.00 the sooner people across Australia and the World will be able to listen to the ANARCHIST WORLD THIS WEEK. URGENT - DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE STAMP APPEAL Want to help us with our campaign. We urgently need 45 cent stamps. Send us as many as you can spare to P.O. Box 20 PARKVILLE 3052 MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA. ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE OBSCENITY OF THE WEEK Has been won by Eddie McGuire and James Packer for trying to do to Aussie Rules what Packer and Murdoch did to Rugby League. DEBT ELIMINATION APPEAL - PUSH US OVER THE LINE Our debt stands at $901.20. We would like to eliminate this debt by June. Over the past two years we have been able to reduce our debt from over $3000.00 to a little over $800.00. If you've hesitated helping us overcome our debt because you didn't want to throw good money after bad, well you don't need to worry as we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We need a little bit of extra help to push us over the line. So if you haven't helped before and want to help, make out cheques or money orders to Libertarian Workers and send it to L.W.S.S. PO Box 20 Parkville 3052 Melbourne. THANKS!! DEBT 14.9.98 - $901.20 (perilously close to the $1000 mark) DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOT PARLIAMENTARY RULE Want to become involved in a campaign that highlights that parliamentary elections are nothing more than 2 minutes of illusory power. Want to put a few speed humps in the way of Howard's electoral juggernaut, than contact us at email directdemocracy@netscape.net or write to us at D.D. PO Box 5035 Alphington 3078 Melbourne Australia. ANARCHIST MEDIA INSTITUTE PUBLIC DISCUSSION MEETING - BLACK RIBBON CAMPAIGN (Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule) When: 8.00pm Thursday 24th September, Where: Ross House, 247 Flinders Lane (Near Swanston St), Melbourne. ALL WELCOME - ANARRES BOOKSHOP WILL HAVE A BOOKSTALL ON THE EVENING. NEW WEB SITE BLACK PLANET (PLANETE NOIRE) This new web site has grouped 338 ANARCHIST SITES from across the globe, into one web site. Want access to more anarchist web sites than you can blink at then log into http://www.mygale.org/07/endehors If You Like What You Have Read, Photocopy This Publication and Leave It In Doctors, Dentists, Vets Waiting Rooms and In Railway Stations, Bus Stops, Libraries and Restaurants Etc. The articles in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review express the opinion of individuals within the Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist Media Institute. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Libertarian Workers for a Self-Managed Society/Anarchist Media Institute. P U B L I C A T I O N S Anarchist Age Weekly Review - 4 pages of Anarchist commentary on Local, National and International events. $50.00 for 50 issues $10.00 for 10 issues Anarchist Age Monthly Review - Issue 80 out July 1998 $48.00 wage earners - 12 issues $30.00 non wage earners - 12 issues Make out cheques or money orders to: Libertarian Workers, PO Box 20, Parkville, 3052 Victoria Australia. All material in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review can be used by anarchists, anarchist collectives and non-profit organisations as long as the source of the material is mentioned in the article. The Anarchist Age Weekly Review reserves all rights as far as commercial publications are concerned. NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF THOUGHTFUL COMMITTED CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD - MARGARET MEAD. All electoral material written and authorised by Joseph Toscano, First Floor 21 Smith St. Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia.